#academicfreedom — Public Fediverse posts

Inside the D.O.J.’s Investigation of Fauci and Other Virus Scientists

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/05/health/fauci-morens-covid-prosecutions.html

A quotation from Henry Commager

We do not need to fear ideas, but the censorship of ideas. We do not need to fear criticism, but the silencing of criticism. We do not need to fear excitement or agitation in the academic community, but timidity and apathy. We do not need to fear resistance to political leaders, but unquestioning acquiescence in whatever policies those leaders adopt.

Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1965-12-18), “The Problem of Dissent,” Saturday Review

More about this quote: wist.info/commager-henry-steel…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #commager #henrycommager #acquiescence #agitation #apathy #censorship #criticism #dissent #intellectualfreedom #resistance #silencing #timidity #academicfreedom

🔴 PhD student Tesfaye lost his Supervisor over pro-Palestine Activism
#Palestinasolidaritet #InternationellSolidaritet #solidarity #stockholmsuniversitet #studentactivism #phdstudent #academicfreedom #freedomofspeech #freepalestine #stopthegenocide

🔴 PhD student Tesfaye lost his Supervisor over pro-Palestine Activism
#Palestinasolidaritet #InternationellSolidaritet #solidarity #stockholmsuniversitet #studentactivism #phdstudent #academicfreedom #freedomofspeech #freepalestine #stopthegenocide

🔴 PhD student Tesfaye lost his Supervisor over pro-Palestine Activism
#Palestinasolidaritet #InternationellSolidaritet #solidarity #stockholmsuniversitet #studentactivism #phdstudent #academicfreedom #freedomofspeech #freepalestine #stopthegenocide

🔴 PhD student Tesfaye lost his Supervisor over pro-Palestine Activism
#Palestinasolidaritet #InternationellSolidaritet #solidarity #stockholmsuniversitet #studentactivism #phdstudent #academicfreedom #freedomofspeech #freepalestine #stopthegenocide

🔴 PhD student Tesfaye lost his Supervisor over pro-Palestine Activism
#Palestinasolidaritet #InternationellSolidaritet #solidarity #stockholmsuniversitet #studentactivism #phdstudent #academicfreedom #freedomofspeech #freepalestine #stopthegenocide

#Texas just gutted #FreeSpeech on #college #campuses. Is your state next?

New laws in the Lone Star State will silence dissent and undermine #faculty authority.

By Laura Benitez and Jonathan Friedman
July 14, 2025

"As thousands of students return to college campuses this fall, they will find themselves stepping into an environment reshaped by political and ideological mandates. Across the country, state legislators have been racing to exert new influence over free expression in higher education. Now, Texas has surged to the forefront, closing its 2025 legislative session by passing two alarming laws that take effect Sept. 1.

"Signed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in June, the new laws amount to a stunningly aggressive legislative crackdown on campus protest (#SB2972) and academic shared governance (#SB37) at public colleges and universities. The laws will not just silence dissent and undermine faculty authority in Texas; they provide a blueprint for how to dismantle academic freedom and chill speech on campus state by state.

"Only a few years ago, conservative lawmakers railed against college 'free-speech zones,' arguing that liberal administrators were muzzling students on the rest of campus. In 2019, Texas legislators joined other states in taking action by declaring all outdoor spaces on public campuses open for protest and speech by students, employees and the general public.

"Now, some of the same legislators have done an about-face. The campus protest law actually directs public colleges and universities to implement a version of free-speech zones and adopt sweeping limitations on protests. #Encampments? Banned. #Megaphones or #speakers during 'class hours'? Forbidden — if anyone claims your 'expressive activity' is one that 'intimidates others' or 'interferes' with an employee’s duties. Even wearing a mask during a protest — something many do for safety — could land a student or employee a disciplinary hearing resulting in 'sanctions.' And any expressive activity between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. is off-limits altogether."

Read more:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/07/14/texas-campus-free-speech/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/2LuBD

#TexasProtestLaws #ProtestLaws #ProtestLawsTexas #Project2025 #AntiProtestLaws #Authoritarianism #SilencingFreeSpeech #Censorship #AcademicFreedom #AntiMaskLaws #Fascism #USPol #CivilLiberties #Texas

Too much is still on X re. #HigherEducation denouncing the #GazaGenocide and the assault on #AcademicFreedom relating to speaking up.

Where are the #MastodonAcademic voices?

#GlasgowUniversity VC has stood up
#UniversityGalway calls for a permanent #CeaseFire
#DavidMiller has won his landmark case

#UCU

Re: Scott Aaronson • Will UT Austin and Texas A&M Survive Beyond This Week?
• https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=7243

My Comment —
• https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=7243#comment-1949554

As far as the tenure system goes, a little bit of history regurgitated will bring its rationale into focus.

History of the AAUP —

❝In 1900 when noted economist Edward Ross lost his job at Stanford University because Mrs. Leland Stanford didn't like his views on immigrant labor and railroad monopolies, other professors were watching. The incident stuck in the mind of Arthur O. Lovejoy, philosopher at Johns Hopkins. When he and John Dewey organized a meeting in 1915 to form an organization to ensure academic freedom for faculty members, the AAUP was born. “Academic Freedom” was a new idea then.❞

• https://web.archive.org/web/20121221091245/http://www.aaup.org/about/history-aaup

Without a tenure system there is no academic freedom, and without academic freedom universities as organs of free inquiry will simply wither and die.

#ScottAaronson #LargeLanguageModels #GPT
#AcademicFreedom #HigherEducation #Tenure

Re: Scott Aaronson • Will UT Austin and Texas A&M Survive Beyond This Week?
• https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=7243

My Comment —
• https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=7243#comment-1949542

Alas, my friends, read the writing on the wall —

“Money, Money, Techno Upstartin”

Why should society invest in universities, anyway? Why should individuals devote the great measure of their lives and fortunes to acquiring the discipline and joining the calling of responsible research, teaching, and service when that whole apparatus of laborious training can be replaced by a chatbot simulating the conduct of a human being, in particular, an Average Indolent fifth-grader who copies all his book reports off Wikipedia?

No, no, mes amis, the job you lose to a bot will sooner or later be your own.

#ScottAaronson #LargeLanguageModels #GPT
#AcademicFreedom #HigherEducation #Tenure